MacBook Air 2019 enough for web development?

[Tony01]

Hi all! I'm testing out the new dell xps 13 7390 (not the 2-in-1 version) and I'm deciding if keeping it or switching to a MBA.
My mainly usage is the following:

• Chrome with 15 tabs opened (I need chrome, safari won't work in my use case)
• IntelliJ IDE
• MySQL instance running (a small one)
• Spotify, Mail and some messaging apps (whatsapp, telegram)
• Terminal
• Torrents (sometimes)
• Microsoft Word
• External 24" 2K display

The current laptop I'm testing handles everything very well and I like it. But, having an iPhone, I would like to switch to a macos device if it is feasible (not too much drawbacks).
The current specs of the laptop are: i7th 10gen quad core, 16gb ram, 512 gb ssd.
I can afford the MBA version with 256gb and 8gb ram.

Will it handle my daily workflow? My main doubt is about the Y dual-core processor.

Thanks in advance

 

[theluggage]

The current specs of the laptop are: i7th 10gen quad core, 16gb ram, 512 gb ssd.
I can afford the MBA version with 256gb and 8gb ram.

The current laptop I'm testing handles everything very well and I like it.

I think you've answered your own question there. Especially with the last sentence - if it ain't broke...

I suspect that the Air would get the job done (depends on what is in those 15 Chrome tabs!) - but 8GB/256GB/Dual core is pretty minimal esp. if you start wanting to use virtual machines (e.g. to run separate instances of MySQL or simulate a Linux hosting environment). The Dell gives you quite a bit of headroom. Plus, you can plug in power, your display and an external drive without needing a dock.

I'd also wonder about the baseline integrated graphics and an external display. '2k' should be OK but if you ever wanted to go 4k, MacOS is quite heavy on the GPU (esp.

MacBook prices are just stupid now (about the only thing with worse bangs/buck is the MS Surface range, but at least they have some interesting features). - especially if you want enough RAM and storage to give you a bit of headroom/future-proofing. What with that and the whole butterfly keyboard thing... its hard to recommend them unless you have an existing commitment to Mac software that justifies the premium of getting a decently-specified machine.

A shame, because MacOS, being Unix and hence much closer to Linux-based web servers that you're targeting, makes an excellent web development platform - but pretty soon it makes more sense to use VMs or containers anyway and they work just as well on Windows - plus there's now the Linux Subsystem for Windows.

 

[Tony01]

I think you've answered your own question there. Especially with the last sentence - if it ain't broke...

I suspect that the Air would get the job done (depends on what is in those 15 Chrome tabs!) - but 8GB/256GB/Dual core is pretty minimal esp. if you start wanting to use virtual machines (e.g. to run separate instances of MySQL or simulate a Linux hosting environment). The Dell gives you quite a bit of headroom. Plus, you can plug in power, your display and an external drive without needing a dock.

I'd also wonder about the baseline integrated graphics and an external display. '2k' should be OK but if you ever wanted to go 4k, MacOS is quite heavy on the GPU (esp.

MacBook prices are just stupid now (about the only thing with worse bangs/buck is the MS Surface range, but at least they have some interesting features). - especially if you want enough RAM and storage to give you a bit of headroom/future-proofing. What with that and the whole butterfly keyboard thing... its hard to recommend them unless you have an existing commitment to Mac software that justifies the premium of getting a decently-specified machine.

A shame, because MacOS, being Unix and hence much closer to Linux-based web servers that you're targeting, makes an excellent web development platform - but pretty soon it makes more sense to use VMs or containers anyway and they work just as well on Windows - plus there's now the Linux Subsystem for Windows.

What about the Pro model? Maybe I can afford the base Pro with i5, 256gb and 16gb ram

 

[jmiddel]

Have you looked at refurbs in the Apple Store?